Bill fold



Aug. 14. 192 1,680,687

C. L ENF' ANT BILL FOLD Filed April 16, 1926 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 l l a y II WATTQR EY Aug. 14, 1928. 1,680,687

C. L ENFANT BILL FOLD Filed April 16, 1926 2 Shuts-Sheet 2lllllllHI-IIHHH INVENTOR (72601612 gip a/zi ,hi/s ATTOR EY Patented Aug.14, 1928.

UNITED STATES CHARLES LENFANT, OF NEW YORK, N. Y.

BILL FOLD.

Application filed April 16,- 1926. Serial No. 102,409.

This invention relates to bill folds or similar foldable articlesreceiving cases, and has for its primary object to provide such a caseof simplified construction which may be compactlyfolded when filledwithout buckling or wrinkling of the leather or other material of whichthe case walls are formed and which will therefore, possess greaterserviceability than bill folds or cases of the usual constructionheretofore known in the art."

More or less satisfactory results have been obtained from certainconstructions heretofore suggested wherein the inner wall of the caseconsists of two sections secured to the outer wall along their lower andouter end edges and having their inner edges spaced aparton oppositesides of the fold line, and then bridging this space by a separate pieceof leather extending between said inner wall sections andthe fabriclinings on the inner faces thereoflsaid leatherbridging piece beingunattached at its lower edge to the outer case wall and connected at itsouter ends'by extensions of the "fabric lining on the inner face of saidbridging piece with the connected ends of the inner and outer casewalls, or with the inner walls of the case. This arrangement permits theends of the leather piece bridging the gap between the inner ends of theinner case walls to move freely between said Walls and their linings,thus permitting of the relative movement of the two sections of theinner wall and also of their movement with respect to the outer wall ofthe case when'the latter is folded and thereby avoiding the formation ofwrinkles or undulations in the inner wall sections, especially whenthecase is filled with bills, memorandzuor other papers to a pointapproachingits full capacity. The constructions just referred to,however, involve several more or less tedious and time consumingoperations in the prop-- I er assemblage and connection of theseveralparts of the bill fold or case, and it is the purpose of my presentimprovements to secure the same advantageous results with a reducednumber of parts and with fewer manufacturing operations which may bemore easily and rapidly executed than heretofore. I thereby aimtogreatly expedite the production of such bill folds or cases r and tothereby correspondingly reduce manufacturing costs.

With the above and other objects in view,

the invention consists in the improved bill 7,

fold or case and in the form, construction andrelative arrangement ofits several parts as will be hereinafter more fully described,illustrated in the accompanying drawings, and subsequently incorporatedin the subjoined claims. I

In the drawings, wherein I have illustrated several simple and practicalembodiments of my present improvements, and in which similar referencecharacters designate corresponding parts throughout the several views,-

Figure 1 is an inner face View of a single fold case showing the sameopen and illustrating one practical embodiment ofthe invention; 1 v

Fig. 2 is a plan view illustrating an intermediate step in the method ofassembling parts of the case;

i Fig. 3 is asimilar view showing the next succeeding step in the methodof assemblage;

Fig. 4 is a horizontal sectional view taken on the line 4-4 of Fig. 3;

Fig. .5 is a detail section taken on the line 55 of Fig. 3; v

Fig. 6 is a fragmentary edge view of the central portion of the case atthe open edge thereof; 7

Fig.7 is a similar view showing the case folded,

Fig. 8 is an inner face view similar to Fig. 3, showing a modified caseconstruc-. tion having two folds instead of the single fold as in Fig.1, and

Fight) 'is'asectional view taken 'on the line 9-9'of F ig, 8.

Referring in detail to the drawingsand for the present more particularlyto'Figs.

1- to 7 thereof, the article case or bill fold embodiesthe usual outerwall indicated at 5, the inner side of which is lined with silk orotherrelatively thin' fabric. The inner case wall consists of the twosections 6 and i nil t of the case walls.

a case having a bill receiving pocket having a depth equal to the fullwidth of the case so that the marginal edges of the case will not bedistorted or wrinkled when the case is folded.

Before attaching or securing the inner wall sections 6 and 7 to theedges of the outer wall 5, I secure upon the'inner face of each wallsection, by means of a suitable adhesive, a thin fabric lining sheet 8,and the inner end edge of the leather wall is preferably turned over andadhesively secured upon this fabric lining as indicated at 9. The liningsheet 8 is of a length equal to substantially twice the width of theinner wall section, and said wall section adja'ent its upper edge isadapted to be folded over as indicated at 10 in Fig. 5 of the drawings,upon the extending end portion of the lining sheet 8 which provides aninner pocket wall 11 for the leather inner wall section of the case.Upon the pocket walls 11 and on the faces thereof which are opposed tothe outer case wall 5 a thin sheet of silk12 is secured by a suitableadhesive. This sheet of silk is also preferably secured to the turnedover edges 10 of the walls 6 and i by the lines ofstitching indicated at13. The two inner wall sections are thus in this manner connected witheach other by the flexible silk sheet12 which bridges the gap betweenthe .inner spaced end edges 14 of these walls, said inner end edges ofthe walls (5 and 7 being located respectively on opposite sides of thecentral fold line of the case.

From reference to Figs. 6 and 7 ofthe drawings, it will be particularlyobserved that there is an excess of the silk inaterial 12 extendingbetween the inner end edges 11 of the wall sections 6 and 7 or in otherwords, the linear mcasureinent of this intermediate part of the silkshcet lfl exceeds the distance between the spaced end edges 14 Thus,adjacent to said end edges 14, folds indicated at 15 form in the silk12. The reason for tl'iisconstruction will become apparent from thefollowing description. i

Before the silksheet 12'is attached to the pocket walls 11 as aboveexplaii1ed,'a relatively short length of thin silk or other fabric shownat'16 is secured to said silk sheet 12 midway between the opposite endedges of said silk sheet by the single line of stitching indicated at17. There is then secured upon the outer side of this silksheet l(3,aleather bridging sheet 18 of the same dimensions as the silk sheet 16.It will be noted from reference to Figs. 2 and 3 that thelower end edgesof thesilk sheet 16 and the bridging sheet '18 are slightly spaced abovethecorresponding edges of the pocket walls ll'and the silk sheet 12. Inthis IIIILI1- ner, it will be apparent that the bridging the inner sideof the outer wall sheet of leather 18 entirely conceals the line ofstitching 17. The free portions of the leather bridging piece 18 atopposite sides of the stitching 17 overlie the pocket walls 11 as shownin Fig. 2.

The wall sections 6 and 7 of the case are then turned over anddownwardly upon said free end portions of the bridging piece 18 and saidwall sections are then applied upon The wall Section 5 is then connectedalong its lower and outer end edges with the C(HIGSI'JOIltlll'lg edgesof thein ner walls 6 and T and with the lower edge of the silk-sheet 12in the manner disclosed inuny pending application above referred to. Itwill be understood, however, that the lower end edge of the bridgingpiece 18 remains free or unattached at its lower edge with respect totheouter wall 5 of the case.

In this manner, it will be seen that when the assemblage of the severalparts is completed, the free end portions of the bridging piefe 18 andits attached lining sheet 16 project'laterally beyond the end edges 14-of the inner walls 6 and Tand into the pockets formed between thesewalls and the fabric walls 11 and which pockets may receive cards,menioranda and the like. The end edges of the bridgin piece 18 extend toa point substantially midway of the depth of saidpockets sothat there isno likelihood of said end portions of the bridging piece 18 beingaccidentally pulled out of said pocketsin the extraction of the contentsthereof. However, these ends of the bridging piece 18 remain entirelyfree or noconnected in any manner with the case walls 5, 6 and 7. Itwill therefore, be apparent that when agreatnumber of bills are placedwithin the bill fold between the outer wall 5 and the inner walls (5 and7, the provision of the excess material 12 between the inner and edgesof the pocket walls 11 to which said material is secured admits of thefree shifting or sliding movement of the end portions of the bridgingpiece 18 relative to the inner-case walls notwithstaiuling the fact thatthis bridging piece is conncz'tcd with the connecting sheet '12 betweensaid pocket walls. then the bill fold or case is empty, and then folder]to closed position, the folds 15 will form in the intermediate:portiono'f the. sil k sheet 12 substantially in the manner indicated inFig.- 7 of the drawings. vIn yiew, howcrer, of the fact that this'sheet12 isexcecdingly thin, though of great durability, these folds 15 willnot increase the blllk of the folded case.

It will be understood that in Figs. 4 to 7 ofthe drawings, the thicknessof the several parts of the bill fold or case is greatly exaggerated.

In Figs. 8 and 9, I have shown a bill fold or article receiving casehaving two folds ill) lll)

therein. In this construction, the bridging piece 18 is attached to thesilk sheet 12 in the manner above explained, at one side of the centerof said silk sheet and extends into the pockets provided on the innerwalls 6 and 7' for movement relatively to the case walls as heretoforedescribed. Between the outer end edge of the small case'wall 7 andthepocket wall 11 thereof, one end edge of the additional leather bridgepiece 19 is interposed. Before said end edge of the leather wall section7"is Secured to its lining sheet 8, the lining sheet is secured to theend edge of the bridge piece 19 and the pocket wall 11 by the line ofstitching indicated at 20. It will of course, be understood that in thiscase the outer wall 5 is of somewhat "greater length than in the singlefold construction shown in Fig. 1 of the drawings. The additional innerwall section 6 secured to one end edge and the lower edge of the outerwall has its inner end edge spaced from the attached end edge of thebridge piece 19, said bridge piece extending freely into the pocketformed between the wall 6 and its pocket wall 11*. Therefore, in thisconstruction,

it will be understood that the case is folded along the line ofstitching connecting the bridge piece 18' with the silk sheet 12 whichconnects the several pocket walls with each other, and secondly along aline slightly spaced from the line of stitching 20 which connects thewall 7 and the bridge piece 19 with the silk sheet 12'. These fold linesare indicated in Fig. 9 of the drawings by the broken lines A and B,respectively.

From the foregoing description considered in connection with theaccompanying drawings, it will be seen that the inner opposed ends ofthe inner wall sections of the 7 case may freely move relative to eachother even when a relatively large number of bills are placed betweensaid walls and the outer wall 5, and the case then folded withoutbuckling or wrinkling of the inner wall sections, owing to the fact thatthe ends of the bridge piece 18 may freely shift or move with respect tothe inner case walls. By the elimination of theflexible fabricconnection between the ends of this bridge piece and the inner wallsections and connecting said bridge piece only at a single central pointwith the flexible fabric sheet 12 extending between the inner pocketwalls, it

will be apparent that I have appreciably reduced the number ofmanufacturing operations. Also, it has been found that in the use ofsuch a flexible connection between the bridge piece and the case walls,in the insertion of cards and other articles into the pockets, theflexible connections with the ends of the bridge piece are quite likelyto be cut and torn, and thereafter constitute obstructions to the freeinsertion of the cards into the pockets. Also, small articles may findtheir way through these cuts in theflexible connecting members betweenthe same and the inner walls of the ockets from which said articlescannot be extracted. Itwill, therefore,-be seen that I- have not onlyprovided a structure whereby production maybe greatly expedited andmanufacturing costs reduced, but my improvements also result in anarticle of increased durability in comparison with prior art devices ofother types mentioned.

I have herein shown several embodiments of' my presentimprovements whichI have found to he of excellent service in practical use. Nevertheless,it is to be understood that the essential features of my presentimprovements might also be incorporated in other alternative structures,varying more or less in the form, construction and relative arrangementof the detail parts thereof. Accordingly, I reserve the privilege ofresorting to all such legitimate changes there in as may be fairlyembodied within the spirit and scope of the invention as'claimed.

I claim:

1. A foldable case comprising an outer.

wall, a relatively short inner wall attached to the outer wall along thebottom edge thereof,'said inner wall provided with a pocket having anopen end extending between the bottom and top edges of said wall, a thinsheet of flexible material secured to the inner side wall of said pocketand attached to said outer wall along each end edge and the bottom edgethereof, and a flexible part foldable with said inner and outer wallsattached to said sheet of material at a point spaced from the open endof said pocket and having an unattached portion extending into thepocket and freely movable longitudinally between and'relative to thepocket walls when the case is folded.

2. A foldable case comprising an outer wall, a relatively short innerwall attached to the outer wall along the bottom edge thereof, saidinner wall provided with a pocket having an 0 en end extending betweenthe bottom an top edges of said wall, a thin sheet of flexible materialsecured to the inner side wall of said pocket and attached to said outerwall along each end edge and the bottom edge thereof, a flexible partfoldable with said inner and outer walls attached to said sheet ofmaterial at a point spaced from the open end of said pocket, saidmaterial having an expanding fold therein between the latter end of theinner pocket wall and the point of atta hment of said part, and saidpart having an unsecured portion extending into said pocket and freelymovable longitudinally between and relatively to the pocket walls whenthe case is folded.

heretofore I 3. A foldable case comprising an outer wall and two innerwall sections longitudinally spaced apart and attached along their outerend and bottom edges to said outer wall, each of said inner wallsections having a pocket open at the inner opposed ends of said wallsections, a flexible sheet of material attached to the lower edge ofsaid outer wall and fixed upon the inner side walls of said pockets andbridging the space between the open ends of the pockets, and a flexiblepart. attached to said sheet of material between the open ends of saidpockets and having unsecured portions extending in opposite directionsfrom the point of attachment thereof and into the respective pockets forfree movement longitudinally between and relatively to the pocket wallswhen the 7 case is folded.

l. A foldable case comprising an outer wall and two inner wall sectionslongitudinally spaced apart and attached along their outer end andbottom edges to said outer wall, each of said inner wall sections havinga pocket open at the inner opposed ends of said Wall sections, aflexible sheet of material fixed upon the external faces of the innerside Walls of said pockets and bridging the space between the open endsof the pockets, a flexible part attached to said sheet of material by asingle line of stitching extending across the width thereof and locatedsubstantially midway between the open ends of the pockets, said partbeing foldable along said line of stitching and havin g unsecuredportions extending longitudinall in each direction therefrom into therespective pockets for free longitudinal movement between and relativelyto the pocket walls when the case is folded.

In testimony that I claim the foregoing as my invention, I have signedmy name hereto.

CHARLES LENFANT.

